Goodbye Officer Friendly, hello Warrior Cop’

Sunday

Sep 1, 2013 at 6:05 AM

My latest column may bet me pulled over, but I think it’s important that the story of the unnecessary death of Eurie Stamps Sr. be told and retold. He didn’t have to die. The Framingham police didn’t have to bust through two doors, throw a flash bang grenade into his apartment and invade the home of a citizen like it was a terrorist nest in Baghdad. A citizen suspected of no crime shouldn’t be forced face down on his living room floor so public servants can execute a search warrant with an assault rifle inches from his body, even if the gun doesn’t go off.

But my main point is that khe killing of Eurie Stamps Sr. wasn’t a mistake, and it wasn’t a tragedy. It was a symptom of what has happened to America’s police forces since government started declaring war on domestic crimes.

To put it in context, I turn to Radly Balko’s “The Rise of the Warrior Cop,” a review of the history of a transformation of local police we’ve watched unfold without really noticing it. I’m hoping it will get noticed now. Turning cops into soldiers has huge implications, ones we ought to talk about.

Go ahead, let’s start the discussion.

Rick Holmes

My latest column may bet me pulled over, but I think it’s important that the story of the unnecessary death of Eurie Stamps Sr. be told and retold. He didn’t have to die. The Framingham police didn’t have to bust through two doors, throw a flash bang grenade into his apartment and invade the home of a citizen like it was a terrorist nest in Baghdad. A citizen suspected of no crime shouldn’t be forced face down on his living room floor so public servants can execute a search warrant with an assault rifle inches from his body, even if the gun doesn’t go off.

But my main point is that khe killing of Eurie Stamps Sr. wasn’t a mistake, and it wasn’t a tragedy. It was a symptom of what has happened to America’s police forces since government started declaring war on domestic crimes.

To put it in context, I turn to Radly Balko’s “The Rise of the Warrior Cop,” a review of the history of a transformation of local police we’ve watched unfold without really noticing it. I’m hoping it will get noticed now. Turning cops into soldiers has huge implications, ones we ought to talk about.